project eta ursae majoris: the perfect human
by fukube
Summary: they wanted to create the perfect human. a human killing machine. {ongoing / au}


Note: I am bored to death. And since I am bored to death, I decided to make this AU come to life after months of just dancing around the idea. I kinda like the title. Also see the end notes for any explanations!

Disclaimer: ZEXAL is not mine. Also some titles of the chapters come from the Karneval OST, which is also not mine.

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**Project Eta Ursae Majoris: The Perfect Human**

**prologue: creeping fear**

She jumped down from the steel fence with such grace it was almost considered inhuman. Seeing as she wasn't human though, it didn't surprise her.

She had to get out of here, no matter what. She has had enough. This place was filled with mad people, mad and evil. But the question was: where should she go? Doubtless, they'd go looking for her once they noticed her disappearance, especially since she had killed two of the staff just to escape. She was the lab's project, their specimen. She was important to them. That disgusted her more than anything. She was not some science experiment for them to probe, to analyze with scrutinizing eyes, to take note of on their clipboards. She was human.

The word felt so weird; could she even call herself human? The people in the lab surely didn't treat her like one. They treated her like she was endangered. They were always strict when it came to her consumption of food, saying that she needed the right minerals to grow even stronger. Whenever she had tests to do, even if it was for the sake of science, as they'd say, her well-being was always important. The project head always sent her to the lab's doctor after tests, for medical tests this time. They taught her everything she needed to know in the lab. They taught her to fight, to kill. That's what she was after all, a killing machine. They called her "The Perfect Human". She was Project Delta Ursae Majoris, named after the star, Megrez. She didn't like that name, though. She liked the name 'Rio' more. That was the only name she remembered from her unclear memories. Also, it sounded right. So that was the name she decided as _hers_.

A sudden noise broke her train of thought. Fear gripped her heart. Had they discovered her disappearance already? Where was she anyway? She was in a forest, the trees being a good hiding spot for her. She wasn't within the laboratory's area anymore, that's for sure. Her feet had taken her somewhere inside the forest without her noticing. How stupid of her. What if someone found her and reported her to someone who would send her back? They'd obviously lock her up once she was back. She didn't want to go back to that cold place. The place that was no longer considered humane.

She recognized what the noise was. They were footsteps. They were getting nearer. They moved faster now as they got closer to her. She was done for. They'd found her. Rio suddenly felt like she wanted to cry, she felt so frustrated. Oh, how short-lived her freedom was. She would never be able to see the outside anymore, once they got a hold of her. They'd lock her up and make her suffer through more tests. More chemicals, more probing, more analyzing, more killing. She didn't want that. Oh God, she didn't want that. She hated it more than anything else in the world. She also hated the people who did this to her.

She decided. She wouldn't let them get her anymore.

_She wouldn't let them lock her up. She would be free now. She didn't want to be a project anymore. She was done with that. She was going to fight back._

The fear changed to defiance and anger. She would not let them take her away. If she had to kill, she will. After all, she was made for that, right? She climbed on top of a tree, settling down on one of its strong branches. She gulped as the steps got closer. She angled her body, ready to spring at whoever it was. She commanded her hands to change; her fingers getting longer, nails getting sharper. She narrowed her eyes, vision sharpening. Her ears picked up the sound of someone gasping for breath. It was probably the figure approaching her. She was a nervous wreck right now, adrenaline in her veins. She licked the sweat forming on her upper lip, and stopped breathing. She was as quiet as the whole forest.

Rio's eyes focused on two people that came to her view. One was a man with long dirty blond hair, wearing glasses and a lab coat. He didn't look like one of the guys from the lab she came from, though. The person he was with was younger, and had a dark hair color but his fringe was blond…? He looked weird. He was probably older than her by a year or two.

The guy sighed, "Hey, Father. Are you really sure she went this way?"

"Yes, Thomas. I'm sure. We need to find her soon. If we don't—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. She might go on killing innocent people."

Killing innocent people? That was ridiculous! She would never think of doing that. Who were these two? How did they know about her? Did they belong to a secret part of the lab, after all?

"We have yet to suspect the reasons as to why she is outside their lab at such a time. But we need to find her, first. If you're right and she is out to kill people, well, sadly we'd have to… eliminate her. Try again, Thomas."

Rio furrowed her brow. The man wasn't a part of the lab. He said 'their'. So he was aware of the lab's existence, but he wasn't a part of it. That sounded interesting.

What if… they were against the lab? What if they knew of the evils of that lab and were there to help her? Hope swelled in her chest, but she didn't dare get her hopes up too much. They were still a threat because they wanted to kill her—

A gasp escaped her lips as the younger of the two looked up, looked at her. He found her.

"Hey," he pointed a finger at her, "Get down from there!" He shouted.

She gripped the bark of the tree, glaring down at him. The older man looked up at her as well, eyes widening. No doubt, he was surprised to see her above their heads, looking like a killer hunting for prey.

"I-it's alright! We won't hurt you!" The old man yelled.

How could she trust them? What if they killed her once she got down? She couldn't trust anyone. She couldn't—

'_Hey. Can you hear me?'_

She heard a startled yelp. It came from her. But the voice a while ago… whose was it? It was in her head. The voice came from her head but it wasn't hers. How was that even possible?! _'It's as possible as you being a perfect human.'_ There it was again. Where was the voice coming from? Her eyes darted down to the two below, and then she looked around the forest, for as far as her vision could go. There wasn't anyone around. _'I'm down her, idiot.'_ How rude. Rio looked down at the two people below her. At the guy with the weird hair color. He smirked at her. _'You found me.'_ That did it. She jumped down the tree, the younger man stepping in front of his companion, as if to protect him.

"How…?" Her voice sounded hoarse, seeing as she didn't even make a sound for what she knew was an hour. Rio glared at the younger man, keeping as far from the two of them as she can. How can he read her mind? How can he talk to her without actually talking? How could he do something impossible?

"Like I said, it's not impossible. You have superhuman abilities, and I have "powers" of the mind, god that sounds so lame. I'm great at mental works. You could say I'm a genius." He chuckled.

Rio looked at him weirdly, like he grew another head. So, he was like her? Another perfect human? Was he also a test subject?

"Hey! I am not a test subject!" He sounded very offended. Great, if he decided to kill her, she wouldn't be surprised.

"Jeez, I'm not gonna kill you just 'coz you said that. Plus, I think you'd have more of a chance of killing me than the other way around. Don't think so lowly of me, miss."

"Why are you here, then? What do you want from me? You're not here to… take me back to that place, right? I don't want to go back to that lab. It was like Hell in there." She cursed herself for pausing.

The older man spoke up, "Of course not," he smiled at her, it wasn't laced with any malice, not like all the other smiles that were given to her, "Since we now know why you're here, we're here to help you." He sounded so sincere. She could feel herself calming down a little. _They aren't here to hurt me. They aren't here to kill me._

"Of course not, like father says, we're here to help you." The other guy was grinning at her now.

"Oh, excuse our manners. My name is Byron Arclight, and this is my son, Thomas Arclight. What's your name?" The older man, Byron, stretched out a hand to her.

She willed her hands to go back to normal as she took Byron's hand, it was warm. "They called me Project Delta Ursae Majoris, Megrez, in that lab." She looked up at the man and his son. "But I don't like that name, so call me Rio."

"It's nice to meet you, Rio." Byron said, shaking her hand.

"The same goes for me, and thank you." She smiled.

"Okay you two, since we're done here, we can go back home, right? Oh yeah, have you eaten yet?" Thomas asked, looking at her. Now that he mentioned it, when was the last time she ate, actually? This noon. Yeah, she had some kind of salad for lunch today. It's not a very heavy meal, and now she was hungry. Very hungry.

Thomas laughed, "Okay, once we get home, you can eat some of the spaghetti father made."

Spaghetti. Her stomach grumbled, "Oops."

This time it was Byron who laughed, "Come, come. Let's go home. We'll introduce you to our lab and staff tomorrow, if that's alright with you."

Rio suddenly felt tense, they had a lab as well?

Thomas noticed, "Ah, wait. Don't worry. Our guys in the lab are kinder than yours were. They're actually funny guys, you know." he said, winking at her.

"Hmm… I hope you're not lying, or I'll send your head flying." Rio grumbled.

"Don't even worry about it, princess."

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**End note:** THERE IT IS THERE IT IS THERE IT IS. (Prologue anyways, but whatever.) So yeah. Updates for this will be sporadic. It all depends on the audience impact plus reviews. *nudgenudgewinkwink* Also, like I said, it's been in my head for a long time, so I'm sorry if this kinda sounds stupid or something…? Plus, Rio acts weirdly at first with Thomas reading her mind because she grew up in a lab and the people who took care of her there were all very rational people, and she wasn't actually allowed to read any fantasy books as well, only science books and health books, and some Math books that she needed to solve because why the heck not, so the idea of mind-reading sounded new to her, even if superhuman strength was something common to her. I'm just explaining because, you know, someone might come and ask me why she was like that. Anyways, thanks for reading!


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